Americans utilized football as a cultural mechanism to rationalize changes they sometimes found alienating, to magnify American distinctiveness in the face of Soviet gains, and to villify that which they found to be outside the bounds of respectability. pg 2
football as an embodiment of national values
american exceptionalism
the 1962 rose bowl selection process reveals what is american pg 3
thesis, a better one
This book claims that americans crafted and embraced a culture during the cold war era aimed at convincing themselves of their own distinctiveness based on values and characteristics associated with football. pg 6
Prologue
nov 29, 1941 west point vs navy
one of the last college fball games before WWII
tragic significance pg 7
competitive sports are good for military 8
play continues after Pearl Harbor
football crucial to military victory 9
service football
demonstration of american life 11
v-5 preflight schools
navy training programs
combative types 11
rejection of fball as military preparation 12
Tunney, Arnold, Eaker
the v-5 teams contributed to the continuation of civilian college fball on a small scale
victory over axis justifies fball
two big decisions that caused fball boom13
suspension of transfer rules
the gi bill
causes league inparity
federal funding boosts public schools
1950-1962 only one private school wins natl champ 16
Chapter 1 Pasadena: The Terms of Postwar Football
potential thesis on 17
policy of containment ran contrary to american military tradition 18
us falling behind, the muscle gap 19
cult of toughness 20
no water at practice 21
american exceptionalism 21
military supremacy, capitalism, christianity, and democracy
dwight d. eisenhower
former player at west point
"natural leaders" 22
john f kennedy
football as common culture 24
space race 1962
football as a defense against communists 26
National Football Foundation
linking fball to national defense 27
critics of fball linked to communism 29
T. Garland Tinsley
ivy league distancing itself is an attack 31
scandals at westpoint and wm 33
whistleblowers chastized 34
citizens accepted abuses
two platoon fball and the emasculation of the economy 41
fball as a cult mechanism 43
Chapter 2 Columbus: Struggling for the soul of the cold war university
Faculty at ohio state rejects fball team's invitation to rose bowl
Introduction
Prologue
Chapter 1 Pasadena: The Terms of Postwar Football
Chapter 2 Columbus: Struggling for the soul of the cold war university